Down the Zimbabwe Way

Who would have thought about it a few months back? Today, March 6, 2009 (please mark it in your calendar), the United Kingdom set the press rolling and started to print money to prop up its economy. Off course in the modern world new banknotes are not simply printed. It is done at the touch of a computer key, has fancy names such as ‘quantitative easing’, and it is used to purchase assets, primarily government bonds (called gilts in the UK). Do not worry; we are just talking about some $105 billions. Surely this will not decouple the UK from the real world economy, particularly if other governments follow the example –have you noted that other leading economies, the World Bank, and the IMF do not know yet how to react. Who needs real money from China and the Far East economies to buy government bonds when you can create your own to buy them yourself. Doh! Go and grab your Monopoly money and indulge yourself in a hardcore shopping spree; it might work. Clearly the UK is a G8 country and has a technological and professional base robust enough to bounce back, eventually. In other words, the Zimbabwe analogy is only a playful one. Nevertheless, it gets you thinking about alternative realities and future scenarios. Here we are thinking about the convergence of economic downturn and private security, but we are a sad bunch.